Manifested Vision, Part 3: "Dreaming with God" | Dr. Mike Woods, Sr.

Well, grace and peace everyone, be multiplied to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is Dr. Michael Lyris Woods. For those of you who are uninitiated, and welcome to tonight's edition of Rod on Now. I'm super excited today because I get to replay for you our message from service on yesterday at Rod Church. It was phenomenal. We're continuing our series on manifested vision, and yesterday we talked about dreaming with God. There's so many people who are following dreams and duplicating things they've seen other people do, or following things that come out of their carnality or out of their flesh. But the only guarantee of good success and longevity—

watch this—

and real fulfillment is when you build your life around God's plan and his dream for you. And in this message, we talk about how to identify what's you and what's him, and how to really make the choice to follow after what God says. And we show you what the rewards of doing that really is. So let's jump into this word, already in progress, and then after which I'm going to be back to pray with you. Remember, God wants us to dream with him, so let's listen. Dreaming with God. One of the most tragic things in the world is to have sight but no vision. As a matter of fact, it's quite pathetic because you see, the greatest gift God ever gave to mankind, it's not the gift of sight but the gift of vision. Sight is a function of the eyes. Vision is a function of the heart. And because so many people look at life through their eyes and not real vision that comes from the Spirit of God, they're frustrated in their marriage, they're frustrated in their businesses, they're frustrated in their life. They have no hope. They're depressed. They can't see their way out. But the reality is those that have good success are those who live from the realm of vision. Prophetic perception. And I just want you to be clear this month and next month even, that as we move into this new year, vision will begin to be manifested in our lives. And we gotta get ready now. I promise you, vision is God's optimal reality for your future, and he wants to see it manifested.

We're going to talk about dreaming with God because so many people have dreams, but hear me, they ain't dreaming with God. They've created dreams of their own. And they're doing their own thing. But let me submit to you, the only guarantee of longevity and success in the kingdom— because you can have a carnal dream and have natural success and be miserable. I've seen it a thousand times. Let me just, let me just cite a couple of people who had great dreams and were miserable and ended up dying. One, Michael Jackson. From a little boy, he dreamed of being a superstar. What'd he do? He became a superstar. But when he got an age, he was unsatisfied with everything about him. He didn't like his skin color, he didn't like his nose, he didn't like a lot about him. Reality, he was taking medicine to go to sleep and medicine to get up. What killed him was the medicine, because honestly, with all of his success, he really was still very unfulfilled. And the only way you're really going to be fulfilled, you got to be aligned with God. Another one, Whitney Houston. Gone way too soon. No way Whitney Houston or Michael Jackson should be gone, but because they were unfulfilled in how they dreamed, they turned to carnal things that killed them. Drugs killed them both because they was looking for a temporary escape from who they were because they were not fulfilled. Had all the money in the world had fulfilled their dreams but yet wasn't happy. God doesn't want that for us. He wants us to dream with him so we're guaranteed fulfillment, so we can have the wonderful cars, the wonderful houses, all the money, and still be happy. And watch this, be able to give ourselves to other people. And help them. Oh Jesus.

So when you talk about dreaming with God, there are two basic things that are in the foundation of this, and then I'm gonna build a house on this foundation.

The first one, if you're gonna dream with God, there's gotta be alignment. Say alignment. Alignment simply means to synchronize yourself in a straight line and pace with the one you're following. So you align yourself with something and you're in a straight line, and basically when they move, you move. If they don't move, you don't move. Otherwise, you're out of alignment. You're not in sync. That's why you got to be in the straight line and you got to move with the right pace. There are so many people who move ahead of God, they get out of step with God. Oh boy, they say they're following God and they're on target for what even God may have shown them. But watch this, you can be on target but out of time. Yeah, yeah, you could be on the right target but out of time, which means you can be on target moving toward the right thing but not in the right timing to do what God says do. I don't know about you, but I want timing and target to always be aligned. I ain't always been there. There have been a lot of seasons in my life where I've been on target but out of time. I learned that real alignment comes through my relationship with God. We're going to get there in a moment, but the foundation is I must choose to throw away how I want to do it and follow the way God wants it done. Lord, have mercy, Jesus. So that means we got to do it the way God wants it done. Here's reality: you're really not in alignment if you're following your carnal nature and you're doing things your way. You're just not in alignment. And, and basically what you're doing, you're living life like a transgressor. And the way of a transgressor is hard. So the reason life gets hard and things get hard is because you're living against God. You're out of sync, out of pace, out of alignment, and that ain't never been God's will for you. So that's the first thing— I got to have alignment if I'm gonna dream with God. Secondly, once I align I have to embrace the assignment. So in— inside of Dreaming with God, I got to stay aligned and I got to stay assigned. Your assignment— hear me— is the problem you were created to solve.

I'll say that again.

Your assignment is the problem you were created to solve. Everybody in this room, everybody watching me live, you have a problem you were created to solve, whether you believe that or not. You are unique, you are important, you are authentic. There's something you have to give to the world that nobody else can do, and you have to discover that assignment. Well, if you're not in alignment with God there's no way you're going to discover the assignment. I have time to teach a whole message on assignment, but there are basically 4 things in every assignment. In every assignment, number 1, there are people. God never will give you an assignment that doesn't involve humanity, because God is a humanitarian. He loves humans. He loves people. Matter of fact, John 3:16 said it, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. So that— if that ain't humanitarian, to send your son to die for humans just so that they can have access to eternity. Now watch this. When he said have everlasting life, he wasn't just talking about everlasting life after you die. He was talking about being able to live from eternity. Oh my God, to natural time. You should be able to live from eternity, from a place of eternity, and not carnal time. God wants you to be able to tap into the realm of the spirit so you can live with him and watch this— serve the vision, serve the purpose, serve the people, serve the humans that he's called you to serve.

Lord have mercy.

Every assignment, there are also places, there are geographical locations that God sends you to, to do your assignment. And anytime you're dreaming with God, he always has a topography, a geography in mind, a place where he wants you to be to fulfill that assignment. Somebody say places. Sometime to do the assignment, people have to move. People don't like that, but sometimes God will move you to do the assignment. I lived in Mississippi for 17 years doing an assignment. I planted seed in Mississippi. I planted a church there, 17 years there. Has made probably the greatest impact in the region because the people are still growing from the seed that was planted. Glory to the name of God. The ministry is still thriving through the sons and daughters that came out of the ministry. But I— if I wouldn't have been obedient and moved from Atlanta and went to Mississippi and planted the church None of that never would have happened. Matter of fact, if I would have been disobedient, it would have delayed the man that Apostle Brandon Cornelius is. If I wouldn't have been aligned with the dream of God that he gave me for Mississippi at the time, it would have delayed the, the destinies of hundreds of other people that came through that ministry. The reality is we have to be open when God moves us. So every assignment from God has people, places— watch this— periods. Periods are time frames, seasons. So they're going to be good days, they're going to be bad days in the dream, in the vision, but you got to go through them days. Glory to God. Hallelujah! Because you got a vision. And we learned in, in message number 1 that vision makes pain bearable. Vision gives you hope. When you got a vision, you can keep going. I'm convinced anybody that quits didn't have a vision from God. It was their own vision. Praise God. All right. So let's get into this. Dreaming with God, from the assignment and the alignment, I have to— now there are basically 3 tiers I have to build on that foundation. Say it with me. Say alignment. Say assignment. Come on, say it again. Say alignment. Say assignment. So on top of alignment and assignment, and again, everybody watching me in this room has an assignment, and you have to have alignment to fulfill that assignment. So people, places, periods, provision in every assignment. God provides for the vision. Praise God. God provision. God is for the vision. Hear me, he's for the vision. Lord have mercy. All right, so let's do this. The first wall we need to build, or the first tier we need to build when it comes down to dreaming with God, there has to be relationship with God. Now I know every Christian worth they soul, if you ask them, do you have a relationship with God, they're going to say yes so fast. But in reality, most Christians— it's sad but true. They don't know God. They know church, they know religion, but they have no earthly idea who God is. That's a problem, y'all, because watch this— God always knew us. Wait a minute, we come to him and never get to know him, but he always knew us. That's called a pre-Adamic relationship. So God had a pre-Adamic, before Adam, relationship with you. Adam was the first man on earth. But he wasn't the first being ever created. Ah, as a matter of fact, you were known before the foundation of the world. Bible said before the foundation of the world, he called you. Glory to God. But wait a minute, let's look at Jeremiah 1:5. Let's— this is— this, this proves it right here that you got to believe the Bible. Everybody don't believe the Bible. I had an old preacher trying to— he wanted to debate me. I had to get up and leave because I wasn't going to debate the old man. I was trying to tell him the truth, he didn't want to hear it. But he was trying to debate the Bible with me about the Holy Ghost. And y'all know how I am about that. You need the Holy Ghost, period. And at the end of the day, you got to be clear in order to receive the baptism in the Holy Ghost. Listen to me, that— I don't even want to talk about this right now, but in the day, let me just say it because he got on my nerve with this. You got to understand that Calvary and Pentecost are two different experiences. He's trying to convince me Ain't no way you're gonna convince me of this because I know it's not true. Because there's too many people that have been to Calvary and not Pentecost, that they get saved and they get baptized in water and they still live like the devil, and they have no governor in their life to guide them toward purpose. So he wanted to tell me, listen, that when you get saved— and there's a lot of people teach this I just want to step on this doctrine really quick in the middle of my message. That— just pull that camera in close to me because I want somebody to really get this today. I'm just— this ain't got nothing to do with Dreaming with God, but I want to say this: when you get saved, you have a soteria experience, a salvation experience. You— your sins are forgiven. The blood of Jesus washes you white as snow. That's— the Spirit of God does that, but you're not filled. That's why the apostles asked the question in Acts 19, have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? Matter of fact, the scripture says in Acts 2:38, repent Repent, that's one thing, every one of you of your sins. So once you repent, guess what happens? You get saved. You confess the Lord Jesus Christ, you believe in your heart, you get saved. This is a quick Bible study, real quick. I'm telling you, this is a rabbit trail, it's free. Listen, repent, Acts 2:38. Then he said, be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's two, that's the next thing, be baptized. So they get that. But then the third thing is he said, be filled with the Holy Ghost and you shall be saved. Three different things. Holy Ghost came for humans at Pentecost in the New Testament. There are a lot of spiritual experiences and supernatural things that happen in the Old Testament, but at the end of the day, when we're talking about doctrine You can't make excuses for not speaking in tongues because that's the first thing he said. So you're telling me in order to have the Holy Ghost I got to speak in tongues? Yes, because the Bible said that you have the evidence of speaking in tongues. At some point in your walk, you're gonna speak in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. But anyway, So back to this. When we dream with God, we got to have relationship. We got to seek the pre-Adamic relationship we had. Jeremiah 1:5 says this: Before I formed you in the belly— hallelujah— he said, before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Not after you got there, before. This simply says God don't make mistakes. There was no oops when your parents got together. My daddy was 17, my mama was 15. Ain't no way in God's green earth my daddy showed up thinking he was gonna have a son, but God knew he was because I needed to be born for such a time as this so I can fulfill my vision. Watch this. And so before, God already knew that I was coming. He knew that you was coming. You are supposed to be here. Touch yourself and say, I'm supposed to be here. Those you watching online, say, I'm supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be here. It's not a mistake that I'm alive, that I'm breathing right now in this moment. You are supposed to be here because there's a vision you got to fulfill. Before I formed you in the belly, he says, and before you came forth out of the womb, I knew you. I knew you. The word knew in Hebrew is yada. I call this the yada place. I've been teaching for 25 years, man. But this is a real place. God knew us pre-Adamicly before we got here. Before you became a living chromosome with a heart and a liver and lungs and kidneys and reproductive system, before you had a neurology system, before you had anything physical, he knew you. So the real you is not predicated on your outer man. Matter of fact, this is just a shell, a case for who we really are. We're tripartite beings. We're body, we're soul, we're spirit. I need y'all to grab this. Our relationship with God cannot be adhered to in the flesh, out of the body. We have a relationship with God through our spirit. Our innermost man. That's where God communicates with us. Amen. So he says, before you were formed in the belly, I knew you. Before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you. Wait a minute, sanctified. Yet, say it in Hebrew, I set you apart for an assignment. Wait a minute, not only did I know everything about you, your ups, your downs, who you would be, where you would go, who you would meet, who you would marry, I knew your whole life. Before you got here. That's what God says. And really, that's all prophecy is. Prophets don't even understand this. A prophet have the— and I thank God, he as a prophet, he gave me understanding of what's happening when I prophesy. A prophet has the ability to crawl up into the mind of God and really just see the pictures of what God knew and speak what God knew, past, present, future, or whatever the case may be for that particular person at the time. He allows you to see what he knows about them because he knows everything. He knows the future. He knows the past before it occurs. Matter of fact, Let me just put it like this: he knows where you are and he knows where you're going. Touch yourself and say, he knows where I am and he knows where I'm going. He says, so before— so we got to figure out a way to hang out with God in the Yada place, in the pre-Adamic place, to learn what he knows about us. Anytime you get confused about yourself, you just need to talk to God. See, this is the problem with some of these folk that don't know if they're a boy or a girl, or a girl or a man. The problem with that, they ain't spent enough time with the Lord so he can make it clear. You're a boy, you're not a girl, you weren't born that way, you're a boy. And you just need deliverance. You were violated, you were done wrong. Are y'all hearing this? He said, and I ordained you a prophet. So he knew us before we came forth, he sanctified us, set us aside for an assignment, and then he set order. He gave an ordination or an assignment. He gave us an office. Everybody— you may not be a prophet, but he ordained you for something before you got here. Folk think they get ordained when they get a piece of paper. I want you to understand, you are ordained in the before. You just got to discover what you were ordained for. Now here's the problem: you got a lot of people being ordained for things that they were not ordained in the before for. I don't want— don't put nothing on me that God didn't put on me. I only want what he wants. That's the only reason I accept this apostleship. It's so hard. If God would just let me be a regular old pastor and not have to deal with preachers and leaders, and not— I would just be so happy not have to deal with trying to build stuff. But, and if I could just focus on one thing— that's not what my life looks like as an apostle. I have a diversity and the multiplicity of things on my plate all the time, but I accept it because that's what he wants from me. Not because I signed up for something, just go do all this. No, no, that's why I said anybody that's doing this and ain't called to do it, you crazy. There's something wrong with you. You need some help. You need a couch. For real, man, this, this is not for people that's not called to it. Don't take what God didn't give you. That's why I married my wife, because I didn't want no woman that God didn't give me. I know she the one God gave me, no matter who has any other opinion about who else they thought God would have gave me or should have gave me. No, he gave me her, and that's the woman I want, because I'm not gonna take nothing God didn't give me. Okay, okay, I feel like dancing. All right, so, so we got to take a trip to pre-Adamic relationship to discover what God knows. Just, just put your hand on your head, on your brain, and say, Lord, help me to know what you know. Come on, say it again. Say, Lord, help me to know what you know about me. That is why we have relationship with God. It's for discovery. It's not to get goosebumps and pimples and be shaking and fall out on the floor all the time, take naps. This is not— that's not about that. I love that. I love to see people get delivered. I love to see people fall on the floor. I want to see the power of God working people's life, but I want to see people get up off the floor, transform, and have a hunger for God.

Glory to God.

Say, Lord, help my mind. Come on, touch it again. Say, help my mind, Lord, to know what you know. That's so important. That's why we have relationship. That's why you pray. That's why you worship. So you can know what he knows. Some people pray just to say, I prayed at 5. So he gets to tell folks, man, I'm up every day at 5 praying. Well, what you know? What did you learn from God? How deep is your relationship with God now that you're doing all that? Or you just getting up religiously and nothing's happening? Okay, so the pre-adamic relationship— watch this— when we embrace that, that is real, it evolves— watch this— into a present-day relationship that is ongoing where we're constantly discovering vision. Watch this. So we're learning what God knows, and now we begin to see life and ourself the way God sees us. That's so powerful, y'all, because there are so many people that see themselves the opposite of the way God sees them. They view themselves in a vantage point, in a perspective based on how everybody else views them. Most people have defined themselves by what their parents call them, about what their parents define them as, or what their people growing up with them define them as. You're not what people said you are. You're what God says you are. There are some things that were said to me, things I went through, glory to the name of God, that if I would have bought into those things that I know the enemy wanted to use to kill the dreams in me, I wouldn't be the man I am today. I'm so glad I had enough sense to seek God for myself. And to— I asked God years ago when I was living in DC, I said, Lord, let me see myself the way you see me. I was sitting there, I had been going through something really tough, man, and I, I had started defining myself by the opinions of people and how people were looking at me. I was in the military, I was going through a real hard trial, and I'm like, Lord, you got to help me. And the only way I'm gonna get out of here is you got to give me a vision of myself So I can see myself the way you see me. Touch yourself and say, I want to see myself the way God sees me.

That's so important.

If you define yourself by what the world says about you and how they look at you, you'll always be stuck. Things will never change. You'll keep going through the same mundane existence. This, and you'll never come into the promise of God, and you'll never see God's vision. Because watch this, God only trusts those with his vision who can first see themselves through his eyes. Because if God shows you the vision and you ain't even got confidence in yourself to do it— because I'm gonna tell you something, the vision is always going to be bigger than you. The vision is always going to cost more than you got. So you got to be able to see yourself through God's eyes and see your abilities, see your talents, see your anointing through God's eyes. So when God speaks and shows you what he shows you, you know you can get it done because you've seen yourself through his eyes. So you got to have relationship. Let me read Philippians 3:10. Paul said, that I may know him.

That's that word know again. The word know is oida in Greek, and it literally means absolute knowledge.

And 1 1 is 2, that's absolute. You can't never change that. 2 2 is 4, it's going to be 2 2 going to be 4 after me and you are long gone. It's absolute. It can't be changed. Watch this. Paul says, I need to know you absolutely in a way that nothing can change. Some folks don't know God like that. Muslim can come and preach another doctrine and they'll follow it. The inclusionist can show up and say it's all right to be gay. We need another canon. The Bible is not adequate. That's what they'll show up and tell you. And because you don't know him, not in religion, but because you don't know him for real, you start following after that pattern. Lord have mercy, Jesus. And you detach yourself from the tenets of the faith, and you start following something that ain't even God. You got to know him absolutely. I ain't—

let me tell you something about Michael Woods.

An angel can come and preach another gospel. I'ma say, angel, bruh, you're wrong. I'm not listening to nothing you saying because I know God for real. It's not. You could take my Bible, you could close the church and don't let me go to church, I'm gonna still keep serving God because I know him. I'm gonna keep seeking his face because I know him. I don't need a popular preacher to tell me who he is. I know him for real. Hallelujah.

We give God praise.

Thank you, Jesus. I hope y'all getting something out of this. He said that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. Not you, you go to church on Easter and say your Easter speech about he rose, he rose, he rose, Jesus rose from the dead. No, that's not what this is talking about. This is talking about the dunamis the dynamo, the inherent power of his resurrection, which means the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. You got a right to that same power to resurrect you out of carnality, to resurrect you out of fleshly living, to resurrect you out of dead situations. God says you got the same access to that power to resurrect your body so it defeats cancer, to resurrect your body so it defeats high blood pressure. See, we bought into a system that just because the doctor said— who, by the way, still practicing medicine— just because he say you got high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, cancer, you're going blind, you got cataract, everything going wrong. We, we just, we just buy in and accept it. All right, Doc, you diagnosed that, you still practicing medicine. But I read the Bible, and the Bible said— first of all, they asked me a question. It says, whose report will you believe? We shall believe the report of the Lord. I'm gonna believe what God says. With his stripes I'm healed. I'm gonna take him over to the doctor every time because the same resurrection power that rose Jesus from the dead can raise me up. That's why Paul says, I want to know that power so that I can call dead stuff forth whenever it comes before me. I'm telling you, every believer ought to have a relationship that's so tight in the present day that when something dead comes before you, you can call it forth. You can call your finances back to life. Oh, glory to God! In the name of Jesus, right now I decree and declare that anything in your life— if you're in this room or if you're watching me live— I declare now every dead thing in your soul, I command it to be resurrected. I command your life to line up with the vision and assignment that God has for you in Jesus' name. I'm hurrying quick to a close. He says, and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death. So we go through suffering, we go through pain, we— but vision makes relationship with God, makes suffering palatable, it makes it bearable. So We got to have relationship when we dream with God because things are going to get thrown at us to throw us off of the dream. Secondly, you got to have revelation. Hear this: when you dream with God, real vision that comes from God can never be recognized. It has to be revealed. Most people are trying to build what they recognized. Say that with me. Say, I need a revelation. Of God's vision for my life. So I can't just recognize it, say it must be revealed. I have you repeating stuff because when you say stuff, it comes alive. Your mouth is a gate. So when you open your mouth and say something, it enters into your spirit. Oh, glory! You need revelation. You can't just recognize this thing. And here's the problem we got in the body of Christ today. You got a lot of preachers, a lot of leaders, a lot of folk who recognize what somebody else is doing, and because they recognize and it looks easy, or they have the resources to try to do it, they duplicate it but really don't have a revelation of the authentic thing that God called them to do. Watch this. John John, the first chapter in the ninth verse, says this. It says, that was the true light— talking about Jesus, say he's a true light— which lights every man that cometh into the world. So every human born into this system, there is a light that Jesus left in this world. That if man would draw to that light, oh boy, that light would show him everything about himself he needs to know. That's revelation. The word "light" in the text is "photizo" in Greek. It's where we get the word photograph, photography. Hallelujah. Pictures are taken better in light. Video is recorded better in light. Glory to God. Listen to me. God says there's some things about you I want to show you, but you got to dive so deep in the relationship that you can see the pictures, that you can see everything about your life that you need to see so you don't miss it, so that you move in accuracy. One of the things I pray daily, Lord, don't let me miss it to the left or to the right. I want to move in accuracy. I want to be on point. I want to be where he is at all times. I never want to be where God was. I want to be where God is. The only way to— oh my God— to make sure and guarantee that you're never where God was and always where God is, is being in the light. Because that light, that revelation, lighteth with every man that encounters it. Only reason people still in darkness, they ain't really encountered Jesus. Again, they've encountered the church, so it's impossible to dream with God and you really ain't encountered him. I gotta move, I gotta move, I'm already too long. So God, hear this, has a complete vision for our life. Say that with me, say God has a complete vision for my life. Said nothing's missing, nothing's broken. Say it's complete. I don't have to add nothing to it. Say it's complete. So here's, here's the problem. I had you say that because there's a lot of people who feel like they need to help God. I'm here to tell you, God don't need your help. The vision is complete. And watch this, God is dreaming about you every day, and when you're in alignment with Him, you can see the revelations and the dreams that He's having about you every day. Let's go to Jeremiah 29, verses 8 through 11. I hope y'all writing these scriptures down because you're going to need them. Jeremiah 29, verses 8 through 11. The Bible says, for thus said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, hallelujah, let not your prophets, listen to this, nor your diviners that be in the midst of you deceive you. Wait a minute, the first thing he says here is that prophets and diviners are spiritual people. There are false prophets that exist Watch this, in the church that can tell you a word that will deceive you. Watch this, they're prophets because they again are not looking at what God knows. They're prophesying out of their flesh. They'll tell you something that they think is God. Woo! And he'll deceive you, which means it will make you believe it's right. Somebody's deceived, believe what they're hearing or doing is right. So you're going to think it's right because it's coming out of the mouth of somebody that says, I'm a prophet. Bible said clear here, don't let them deceive you. Let's keep reading. He says, neither hearken your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. So the prophet can send a prophecy to you and make you start dreaming something that God ain't even thought about concerning you. Good God from Zion. And because people are not spiritual And they don't develop their own relationship with God. That's why I say I love prophecy. I love prophets. I train prophets. I've raised up prophets. I am a prophet. I love it. However, you ain't never gotta prophesy to Michael Woods. You know why? Because I went to God for myself. Glory to God. And God has already talked to me about me. And if the prophet do open his mouth, he's only gonna confirm what God said to me when I went to him for myself. If he's a true prophet, he gonna confirm what I already saw on God's mind myself. See, your relationship gives you access to revelation so you won't be deceived. You ain't got to pay no psychic, no medium, no prophet for a prophecy when you got access to God for yourself. As a matter of fact, right now I bind up every psychic, every medium, and every prophet that's a false prophet in the name of God. They use their gift for usury and financial gain You're not of God. Glory to the name of God. And I decree and declare that your ministry dry up and your resources dry up even now in Jesus' name, lest you repent. Now take that to the bank because there are a lot of deceived folks out here who bought into words that come from the familiar realm. Listen, stop being lazy and get in God's presence for yourself and let God arise in your life and let him speak to you. I gotta keep reading, I gotta go. He said, for they prophesy falsely to you in my name. Wait, he said they doing it in his name. I'm telling you, that's happening in our society. Right now. It's happening right now. Somebody somewhere getting the word right now that didn't come from God, and the prophet is standing up there saying, 'The Lord told me to tell you,' and God ain't told him nothing because it goes against the original authentic dream or vision that God has for your life. Let me keep reading. He said, I have not sent them, saith the Lord. For thus saith the Lord, that after 70 years, 70 years be accomplished in Babylon. Now watch this. So from verses 9 to 10, something happened. They listened to the false prophets, and God began— the real prophet said, well, y'all gonna end up listening. And you're gonna end up in captivity in Babylon for 70 years because you listen to the wrong word. When you don't dream with God, you end up in captivity. Your life is in ho—

on hold.

Your dreams are not being realized. And God— and there are so many people that have created massive delays in their life because they listened to the wrong person.

And the person said they were coming in the name of God, and it wasn't the Lord.

But the Bible says here there is hope. Watch this. He says after 70 years, after you go through the captivity, because you're going to put yourself there— I'm not— because you didn't listen to me, is what the Lord said. You listen to my voice. You don't spend no time with me, so you are where you are because you refuse to listen. Oh my God. He says, I'll visit you and perform my good word toward you. That word good in Hebrew is banah. It means profitable. So he says, after you listen to the false prophets and do what they say, follow after their dreams for you, put yourself, your life in captivity Watch this. You can be following after religion and be bound up so long and never get out of religion, and then finally you break free. You can hear and see.

God says, now I'm gonna show you how to make the word profitable for you.

The word ought to be working in your life. God's plan ought to be unfolding in our lives. I got to get out of here, man. And perform my good work toward you in causing you to return to this place, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you. Verse number 11, God said, I know the mahakavosh. In Hebrew, I know the visions, I know the dreams. I'm dreaming about you. God says, I'm dreaming about you. He said, these are thoughts of peace. Glory to God. Peace, shalom in Hebrew. These are thoughts where my assistance is present. Peace is not the absence of confusion, it's the presence of assistance. God says, I'm thinking about assisting you. I'm thinking about me and you co-laboring, working together to bring my vision to pass through you for humanity. He said, these thoughts are thoughts of peace and not of evil. Evil there is Hebrew ra. It means injury. God says, I don't want nothing to happen to you that will injure you and ultimately destroy you. He said, they have thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected hope or an expected end. That's the vision. The expected end is you see it and you start expecting it because you know it came from God. I got to get out of here. So through relationship and revelation— watch this— dreaming with God— hear this, and I'm closing— becomes reality. Say that with me. Say reality. The world loves reality, man. The best-selling TV stuff is documentaries and reality TV. What a shame. They want to see housewives, basketball wives, doctors' wives fuss and fight and cuss, lie and cheat, and they love that. I'm telling you, give me God's reality. God said, when you know me in relationship When you have a revelation of my assignment, he says, the things you're seeing will become reality.

Well, Michael, what do you mean by that?

Reality means what you experience in life, what you experience for real. Watch this. God's vision is meant to be experienced and enjoyed. I'm not doing all this work I'm doing, trying to make sure we're in the right place, praying about what we got to do for service, praying about how we're supposed to reach out to people. I'm not doing all that because I don't want to enjoy the end result of what God showed me is going to happen in this ministry. The vision for your life is meant to be experienced. So you gotta make up in your mind, I'm gonna experience this thing. I know God, he showed it to me, so I'm gonna live this. Glory to God. See, we got to do the work so we can experience it. We got to go through the process to experience— what's that word? Go to Habakkuk 2:2. Habakkuk 2:2, real quick. And the Lord answered me— this is another prophet— Habakkuk said The Lord answered me. I love— see, and I love that my relationship with God mirrors these prophets I read about. When I talk to God, he answers. I'll say it again: when I talk to God, he answers. I'm not trying to figure out God. I'm— he answers me. He should answer you when you talk to him. Habakkuk said, the Lord answered me and said— this is how we make the vision reality. First, He says, write the vision, write the chazom, the prophetic revelation, what God showed you in relationship and revealed to you as real. He said, write it down. Do you realize when you write things down, they come alive? Matter of fact, the word write here is armar in Hebrew, and it literally means make institute it as law. When you write it, it becomes law. It becomes something that must be fulfilled in order for vision to be realized. Write it down. Write down where you're going and read it often. Somebody say, write the vision. Some of us never write, but God, writing is, is, is so powerful and And really, if you don't like to write like this, type it. Same thing. You're getting out of your head, out of your spirit, onto paper. It's alive. That's the first step in fulfilling vision, is writing it. Then he said make it plain. Don't make it complex. Make it simple so that them that read it can't run with it. Touch yourself, say, we got to run with the vision. I'm telling y'all right now, recess is over for us as a church. We got to run with the vision. Our vision is real simple in this church. It's threefold. One, to evangelize contagiously, which means we got to reach out to people who need what we have. And that starts with us in this room. Everywhere we go, on our jobs, in the grocery store, in school, wherever we're at, we're gonna run into somebody that need what we have. And we gotta get on our job to be contagious in sharing with them about this ministry. We gotta run with the vision. Secondly is to edify consistently. This is a vision. It's on the website. We consistently edify— means to build up. It's written. Glory to God. So we're here as Rhonda Church to build people up, to edify them in the word consistently, to grow them up in the things of God so that they can be developed enough to be deployed into the world as masters. Of their dominion purpose. We got to run with it, y'all. We got to edify. We got to build. We got to build people so that they can be productive in the kingdom. Thirdly, our vision is to educate. Hallelujah! Constantly. We, we have to— because as an apostolic ministry, we cannot afford to hype people up. We cannot afford to entertain folk. Entertainment ain't in our vision. Our business is to educate. The church, this building, should be Kingdom University. And when people come in here, we should educate them to go into the world and conquer. That's what we're here to do. That's why I study. That's why I pray about what I got to preach. Because when, when I show up, where am I preaching? Anywhere in this country. I want to make sure I'm educating people. I was talking to a young, young preacher, that same meeting I was in the other night. He's got an app on his phone that whenever he preaches, he uses the app for when he tunes up the hoop. I asked him, I said, dude, is that really important? It sounds like you're more concerned about entertaining people than empowering them or educating them in the word of God. I love to preach like the next person, but it ain't that important for me to have an app on my phone to back me up when I'm preaching just because I don't have an organist. That's— no, that's not— that, that's— you want to entertain, you want to be religious, you want to be traditional. He didn't want to hear it. I know that, you know, you can't— I'm an apostle for real, so you can't sit at a table with me and be moving in error and I not tell you you're wrong.

I'm gonna do it every single time. Hallelujah.

It's just how it works. That's who I am. So, and I'm like, I'm, I'm not— because I want to help the young fella. I'm like, bro, And I was real playful with him. I'm like, you don't need to do that. Then he went to explain how there were other songs, and then another preacher with his carnal self said, well, you know, you got to do what you got to do. We got to do— well, you ain't got to do that. I'm all with playing instrumental to set the atmosphere, whatever you need to do, that's fine, but backing yourself up is a bit far. Yeah, okay, all right, let me move, let me move. Say reality. None of this can become reality, and I'm done, y'all, without faith, because everything I just talked about requires faith. Faith. Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is the substance, the, the hupostasis, the stuff of things hoped for and the evidence of what we can't see. So we have to move in real faith and trust what we cannot see.

Hallelujah!

Glory to God! Say faith. Come on, say it again. Say faith.

Let me just give you a few nuggets about faith. First of all, because I don't have time to teach about faith, but I want to give you a few just points I think will be helpful as I close. I'm telling you, these are my closing points.

I'm done. Faith— watch this—

doesn't come from carnal understanding. I'll say that again: faith doesn't come from carnal understanding.

Listen, for real, we don't believe because we understand. As a matter of fact, We understand because we believe. Going back to what I said earlier, you can't analyze before you believe. Let me make sure you get that. Faith doesn't come from you understanding it. You're not going to understand everything God says. I know I don't. And you're not going to understand everything he does. But when you operate in faith and believe and walk with him and walk it out, understanding shows up. So you start understanding because you believe. So you don't believe because you understand. You have to, you have to, you have to believe first, and then you're gonna understand this stuff because it's invisible. It's beyond you. Glory to God. Secondly, watch this. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Hebrews 11:6: Without faith— here we go— it's impossible to please God. So it's impossible to have vision with God, dream with God, bring pleasure to God on earth if I don't move in faith, but I don't believe before I understand, instead of trying to understand it before I believe it. Some things God will say to you will be crazy, but you got to learn to believe before you understand.

Hallelujah.

Secondly, faith— watch this— and walking by faith— this blew me away when God gave me this this morning. Is to live— watch this, this one even in my message, but this is what he gave me to close it with— is to live according to the revelation we have received. So again, revelation is not something that exists, it's something that's revealed. So when God reveals it, it's really faith to live according to what he reveals. Now, if you ain't in relationship with God or spending no time with God, then there are very little things that he's actually revealing. Ah, Lord, have mercy.

Have mercy, Jesus.

See, when we receive a revelation and mysteries are happening around us, or we're presented with things that are mysterious, it takes faith to trust it's something that's mysterious, that ain't quite in a line with what we used to or what carnality suggests. I gotta go. See, for real, and I'm closing, not understanding something, it's really okay, right? It's okay not to understand, but restricting your spiritual life to what you understand is not okay. You may not understand, and it's okay not to understand it, but if you restrict your life in the spirit because you don't understand— so if it comes and you see a revelation, you just don't do it because you don't understand it— you're restricting the opportunity to grow in the spirit and gain understanding because you're trying to make something that is supernatural yield to your control. And I want to tell you something, Supernatural stuff ain't gonna never yield to your control, and so you're gonna restrict yourself from something. Oh my God, I gotta get out of here, man. Oh boy, this is immaturity for real at its best. It's immature to have an encounter with God, get a revelation, and then say, oh, I don't understand it, so I'm not gonna fool with with that. But if you know it came from God, you should be jumping in with both feet. Say, okay, yeah, yay, oh my God, this is different, this is God, this is new, this is going to take me to new heights. Jump in.

When God and his vision and his dream and his purpose take precedence in your life and you marry purpose and vision together Through his eyesight, he gives you access to see yourself the way he sees you. It gives birth to a future that you can never ascertain except you properly embrace vision and properly embrace purpose. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you for this word. Don't know who I was helping today, God, but I thank you that you gave me an opportunity to help somebody. And I pray, God, in the name of Jesus, that this word will land on the good ground of every heart and that they will reap it in due season if they faint not. I pray, God, that you would cause this word to be shared and to, hallelujah, even go viral, because people need to understand your vision and your purpose for their lives. And I give you praise and glory for Now I thank you for as we move swiftly toward 2023, which will be the year of manifested vision. I believe that there will be many people that will see the things they prayed about, cried about, dreamed about come to pass in this next year. I'm thanking you, God, that even if they don't see it in the fullness, they'll see the vision beginning to blossom and manifest. And I give you praise that through these teachings means your people, the body, will be prepared for what's coming. So many people are out here doing their own thing. They got churches open that— oh my God— that are dying and not growing. They got— glory to the name of God— ministries online. They're doing things, God, that you necessarily didn't tell them to do. And many people are holding on to stuff for pride. They're trying to pastor for pride. They're trying to keep saying they're an apostle for pride. But the reality is, help us to find clarity. In what you said, and do that and that alone. And we give you praise for it now, in Jesus' name. Amen. Listen guys, I love you guys with the love of Jesus Christ, and guess what? Ain't nothing you could do about it. I want to challenge you really quickly to give. It takes money to operate ministry and do the things that any man or woman of God is called to do. Many of you watch our teachings, you follow our lives, and some of you never give. And we don't put pressure on you to do it, but I want to really challenge you tonight. You know, every person watching me, especially if you're not connected to our church, I want you, number one, to tithe to your own church. You know, many of you are cursed financially because you don't give tithe to your church, and you need to really be a tither. You know, there are people out here teaching that tithing is wrong. And the reality is, you know, it's just an angel principle that brings blessing. Glory to the name of God. So make sure you're giving a tenth of your earnings to your church. But I want to challenge every person here tonight, up and above your tithe, after you've given your tithe, I want to challenge every person listening to me to get a seed in the ground of $51. That's what I heard when I sat down in the studio tonight, and I'm going to share it with you. Don't kill the messenger, but I need every person watching right now. You need God to do something. Maybe that's all you got, but I want you to trust God tonight. Take what you have and turn it into what you need. Again, the ways to give are on the screen. Two ways to give to Roddell Church: you can give via Cash App @roddellchurch, just that simple, or you can give online at our website roddellchurch.com/donate. Very simple. You can find either on your mobile device, glory to— or your computer, however you choose to do it today. We want you to get seed in the ground. I need you to do it and be very honorable and diligent in doing so. Listen, I love you guys. Again, we're going to be teaching this all month. I want to invite you to come out and worship with us at Rhoda Church, you know, 3 o'clock in person. I need you to be in the house. There's something that happens in the house that don't happen right here. So listen, join us next week, 621 King Arnold Street in Hapeville, Georgia. Uh, we are a rock's throw from the Atlanta airport. I'm so excited about our new location. It's amazing, it's beautiful. I'm excited about all the tech that's in the building. I'm just really just excited to see what we're going to be able to do with this new space God has given us. So listen, y'all come out, join us, be a part of what we're doing, and we're super thankful glory to the name of God for your presence here today. Y'all be blessed, and I want to tell you, as I do each and every week, share the word with a friend. And remember, your decisions determine your destiny. God bless you.

I love you.